Journal of Experimental Child Psychology最新文献

Executive functions and mathematical ability in early elementary school children: The moderating role of family socioeconomic status

IF 1.8 2区心理学

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology Pub Date : 2025-04-01 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106252

Xiaoliang Zhu , Yixin Tang , Zhuoyue Pang , Xin Zhao

{"title":"Executive functions and mathematical ability in early elementary school children: The moderating role of family socioeconomic status","authors":"Xiaoliang Zhu , Yixin Tang , Zhuoyue Pang , Xin Zhao","doi":"10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106252","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106252","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Children’s executive functions (EFs) and family socioeconomic status (SES) play critical roles in the development of mathematical ability in early elementary education. However, the potential interplay between EFs and SES remains underexplored. This study addressed this gap by comprehensively investigating the moderating role of SES in the relationship between EF subcomponents (i.e., interference inhibition, response inhibition, and working memory) and children’s concurrent and future mathematical abilities (i.e., arithmetic operations and logical–visuospatial skills). A total of 172 participants (<em>M</em><sub>age</sub> = 6.78 years; 107 boys) took part in the study at the beginning of first grade in elementary school (T1) and 20 months later (T2). We measured EFs, SES, and mathematical ability at T1 and mathematical ability at T2. Results from hierarchical linear regression models indicated that working memory was positively associated with T1 arithmetic operations and logical–visuospatial skills as well as with T2 arithmetic operations. Furthermore, family SES was positively associated with arithmetic operations at both T1 and T2. Notably, we found a significant interaction effect between interference inhibition and SES on T1 arithmetic operations and logical–visuospatial skills. Specifically, interference inhibition was positively related to T1 arithmetic operations and logical–visuospatial skills for children from low- and middle-SES families, but not for children from high-SES families. Our findings contribute to a nuanced understanding of how cognitive and environmental factors jointly influence mathematical development, underscoring the need for targeted interventions for children from different SES backgrounds to support their mathematical ability development.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48391,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Child Psychology","volume":"256 ","pages":"Article 106252"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143738286","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

In one ear and out the other: Verbal reminders do not improve young children’s prospective memory performance on a virtual task

IF 1.8 2区心理学

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology Pub Date : 2025-03-28 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106243

Madeline K. Maguire, Caitlin E.V. Mahy

{"title":"In one ear and out the other: Verbal reminders do not improve young children’s prospective memory performance on a virtual task","authors":"Madeline K. Maguire, Caitlin E.V. Mahy","doi":"10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106243","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106243","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Prospective memory (PM), or remembering to carry out future intentions, is an ability with which young children often struggle. Thus, it is crucial to determine how to best support the development of their PM skills. Reminders are often used to support PM, and previous research has found that reminders referencing both the PM cue and intended action can improve children’s and adults’ PM. To date, no studies have investigated the effect of verbal cue and action reminders on preschool children’s PM performance, a gap the current study intended to fill. A total of 88 North American children aged 3 to 6 years completed a PM task virtually. The PM task required children to interrupt a card-sorting task to wave at specific cards (those depicting elephants). Children were randomly assigned to receive one of the following: (a) three cue–action reminders, which referenced the PM cue (the elephants) and the intended action (waving); (b) three cue-only reminders, which referenced only the PM cue; (c) three action-only reminders, which referenced only the intended action; or (d) three irrelevant control reminders. The only significant predictor of PM performance was age, which became nonsignificant when the interaction terms were added in the model. Reminders did not have an effect on children’s PM. We consider how these findings may lend support to theories of PM development and discuss the implications of using verbal reminders to support children’s PM in everyday contexts.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48391,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Child Psychology","volume":"256 ","pages":"Article 106243"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143715468","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Heroes, villains, and everything in between: Children’s assessment of morally ambiguous characters

IF 1.8 2区心理学

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology Pub Date : 2025-03-28 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106251

Meltem Yucel , Jessica A. Stern , Sierra L. Eisen , Angeline S. Lillard , Amrisha Vaish

引用次数: 0

Developmental differences in the timecourse of word learning: Greater improvements for children, semantic benefits for adults

IF 1.8 2区心理学

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology Pub Date : 2025-03-22 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106225

Noel Lam , Marianna E. Hayiou-Thomas , Matthew H.C. Mak , Lisa-Marie Henderson

{"title":"Developmental differences in the timecourse of word learning: Greater improvements for children, semantic benefits for adults","authors":"Noel Lam , Marianna E. Hayiou-Thomas , Matthew H.C. Mak , Lisa-Marie Henderson","doi":"10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106225","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106225","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Theories of memory consolidation claim that new word learning is bolstered by existing semantic knowledge. However, <em>when</em> semantic knowledge exerts its effects (i.e., at encoding and/or consolidation) and whether semantic benefits change across development remain unclear. In total, 61 children (Experiment 1) and 63 adults (Experiment 2) learned novel word forms paired with pictures of (a) real but rare animals akin to existing animals (Highly Linkable to existing knowledge), (b) fictitious animals that were less clearly associated with familiar animals (Less Linkable), and (c) “name tags” written with unfamiliar symbols (Unlinkable). Word form and meaning recall were tested immediately, 1 day, and 1 week after learning. Children showed greater improvements across tests than adults despite comparable performance immediately after learning. Regardless of test sessions, semantic knowledge benefited adults’ recall of word form and meaning, with additional benefit from Highly Linkable versus Less Linkable knowledge. Children only showed semantic benefits in meaning (and not word form) recall, with additional benefits from Highly Linkable knowledge. Instead, children’s word form recall was more globally associated with receptive vocabulary and nonword repetition. These results suggest that, when present, the benefits of semantic information permeate across the timecourse of word learning; they also point to developmental differences in word learning mechanisms. Adults made clear use of associated semantic knowledge, whereas children showed more general associations between word learning and language abilities and greater benefit from offline consolidation. These results highlight the need for models of word learning and consolidation to incorporate developmental and individual differences.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48391,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Child Psychology","volume":"255 ","pages":"Article 106225"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143680027","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Children’s evaluations of direct and indirect bias justifications for same-race inclusion

IF 1.8 2区心理学

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology Pub Date : 2025-03-22 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106221

Kate V. Luken Raz, Marley B. Forbes, Melanie Killen

{"title":"Children’s evaluations of direct and indirect bias justifications for same-race inclusion","authors":"Kate V. Luken Raz, Marley B. Forbes, Melanie Killen","doi":"10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106221","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106221","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Different forms of prejudice emerge in childhood, often referred to as direct and indirect bias. Little is known about children’s evaluations of whether certain forms of bias are more okay than others, particularly in the context of peer and parental messages about interracial social inclusion. To address this gap, the current study investigated how Black and White American children aged 6 to 12 years (<em>N</em> = 219; <em>M</em><sub>age</sub> = 9.18 years, <em>SD</em> = 1.90; 51% female) evaluate vignettes in which a Black or White peer opted to include a same-race peer due to indirect bias (preferences for in-group similarity) or direct bias (expressions of out-group dislike). Data were collected in 2021 and 2022. Children evaluated same-race inclusion due to expressions of out-group dislike more negatively than same-race inclusion due to in-group similarity preference. They also evaluated same-race inclusion due to a preference for in-group similarity stated by peers more negatively than when stated by parents. Children evaluated same-race inclusion due to parental preference more positively when the child who included a same-race peer was Black than when the child who included a same-race peer was White. Participants who negatively evaluated same-race inclusion due to parental preference were more likely to use moral reasoning to justify their evaluations, whereas participants who positively evaluated this inclusion were more likely to use non-moral reasoning. This study revealed novel insights about how Black and White American children evaluate forms of direct and indirect bias as justifications for same-race inclusion and how their reasoning relates to their evaluations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48391,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Child Psychology","volume":"255 ","pages":"Article 106221"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143679859","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

On the relation between single word and multiple word processing during learning to read

IF 1.8 2区心理学

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology Pub Date : 2025-03-21 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106223

Brice Brossette , Élise Lefèvre , Jonathan Grainger , Bernard Lété

{"title":"On the relation between single word and multiple word processing during learning to read","authors":"Brice Brossette , Élise Lefèvre , Jonathan Grainger , Bernard Lété","doi":"10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106223","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106223","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The current study investigated the development of single word processing and multiple word processing skills in French-speaking children from Grade 2 to Grade 6. A total of 150 children participated in two tasks: a Lexical Decision Task (LDT) and a Grammatical Decision Task (GDT). The LDT was used to test single word processing abilities, whereas the GDT was used to test multiple word processing abilities, with stimuli presented at varying display times (LDT: 83–300 ms; GDT: 150–700 ms). Signal detection theory analysis revealed that all children performed well in the LDT, whereas only Grade 4 and Grade 6 children performed above chance in the GDT. A cluster analysis was used to investigate the different types of relation between sensitivity (<em>d’</em>) in the LDT and GDT. The analysis revealed two clusters that differed in reading fluency and sensitivity in both tasks. Children from Cluster 2, who exhibited the highest sensitivity in the LDT, were the only ones to perform on average above the chance level in the GDT. Moreover, a strong correlation (<em>r</em> = .64) between LDT and GDT performance was found in this group. Finally, we found that a sensitivity of 1.95 in the LDT almost perfectly predicted cluster membership. Such sensitivity was achieved at Grade 3, suggesting that the ability to process multiple word sequences first requires sufficient efficiency in processing words in isolation. Once this turning point is reached, single word processing skills support the development of multiple word processing, which could take several years to mature fully.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48391,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Child Psychology","volume":"255 ","pages":"Article 106223"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143679860","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

The rapid automatized naming of quantities and its associations with the other RAN tasks and arithmetic and reading fluency in grades 3 to 6

IF 1.8 2区心理学

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology Pub Date : 2025-03-20 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106244

Sara Huotari , Riikka Heikkilä , Minna Torppa , Mikko Aro , Tuire Koponen

引用次数: 0

Predicting time, shaping control: Unveiling age-related effects of temporal predictability on the dynamics of cognitive control in 5- to 14-year-old children

IF 1.8 2区心理学

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology Pub Date : 2025-03-19 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106224

Inga Korolczuk , Boris Burle , Magdalena Senderecka , Jennifer T. Coull

{"title":"Predicting time, shaping control: Unveiling age-related effects of temporal predictability on the dynamics of cognitive control in 5- to 14-year-old children","authors":"Inga Korolczuk , Boris Burle , Magdalena Senderecka , Jennifer T. Coull","doi":"10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106224","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106224","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Understanding how individuals learn to synchronize actions with the temporal structure of their environment is crucial for understanding goal-directed behavior. This study investigated the effects of temporal predictability on cognitive control and action regulation in children aged 5 to 14 years. In our temporally cued version of the Simon task, children were explicitly informed that visual cues would either predict (temporal cues) or not predict (neutral cues) the onset of a target. They used this information to respond to lateralized targets when the target position was either compatible or incompatible with the response hand. Temporal cues speeded reaction times (RTs) to compatible targets in the older (11- to 14-year-old) children and induced a greater number of fast impulsive errors to incompatible targets across all age groups. This pattern replicates previous results in adults and demonstrates that knowing when an event is likely to occur induces a fast, although impulsive, response style. Surprisingly, in the youngest age group (5- and 6-year-olds), temporal cues speeded RTs to incompatible, as well as compatible, targets and helped children to inhibit fast impulsive errors to incompatible targets more efficiently. In summary, the youngest children appeared to effectively leverage the information conveyed by temporal cues to mitigate impulsive response tendencies. However, the benefits of temporal cues on impulse control started to diminish from 7 years of age, when children begin to show more mature inhibitory patterns. Nevertheless, by 11 years of age children achieve performance comparable to that of adults, with faster responses to compatible targets and impulsive responses to incompatible targets.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48391,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Child Psychology","volume":"255 ","pages":"Article 106224"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143670159","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

The past is “fake”: Facilitated processing of wishes compared with counterfactual conditionals in 4- and 5-year-olds 过去是 "假的"：与反事实条件句相比，4-5 岁儿童对愿望的处理能力更强

IF 1.8 2区心理学

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology Pub Date : 2025-03-18 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106220

Maxime A. Tulling , Mark Bacon , Ailís Cournane

{"title":"The past is “fake”: Facilitated processing of wishes compared with counterfactual conditionals in 4- and 5-year-olds","authors":"Maxime A. Tulling , Mark Bacon , Ailís Cournane","doi":"10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106220","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106220","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Understanding counterfactual utterances, such as “If dinosaurs were still alive, we could see them in the zoo,” requires entertaining alternatives to reality. Children’s relatively late comprehension of counterfactual language is often attributed to its cognitive complexity. However, counterfactuals also present linguistic challenges, such as the misleading “fake” past tense that signals counterfactuality rather than referencing a past event. In our study, we investigated whether linguistic complexity influences children’s counterfactual comprehension. We compared two constructions that differ in their dedication to expressing counterfactual meaning and examined whether the “fake” past tense leads children to misinterpret counterfactuals as referring to real past events. The results of a referent selection task with 23 American English-speaking 4- and 5-year-olds and 30 adults show that the performance of children and some adults was facilitated in the linguistically more transparent counterfactual <em>wish</em>-constructions (e.g., “I wish he had a banana milkshake”) compared with more complex counterfactual conditionals (“If he had a banana milkshake, he would give me a banana coin”). This suggests that difficulties in comprehending counterfactual conditionals may stem more from linguistic challenges than from an inability to reason counterfactually. We argue that the counterfactual’s misleading morphological information—the “fake” past—sometimes leads to misinterpretation, by children and even some adults, as referring to a “real” past. Together, these results highlight how the clarity of a construction’s linguistic form affects both the age at which it is acquired and how easily it is processed, challenging the view that counterfactual comprehension difficulties are purely conceptual.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48391,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Child Psychology","volume":"255 ","pages":"Article 106220"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143637395","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

The longitudinal (in)stability and cognitive underpinnings of children’s cheating behavior

IF 1.8 2区心理学

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology Pub Date : 2025-03-13 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106222

Liwen Yu , Cleo Tay , Si En Toh , Jie Ning Wee , Yue Yu , Xiao Pan Ding

{"title":"The longitudinal (in)stability and cognitive underpinnings of children’s cheating behavior","authors":"Liwen Yu , Cleo Tay , Si En Toh , Jie Ning Wee , Yue Yu , Xiao Pan Ding","doi":"10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106222","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106222","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>There has been a long-standing debate about whether cheating is a stable behavior across various situations. However, there is a notable gap in our understanding about whether children’s cheating behavior could exhibit stability over time. Moreover, research on the cognitive correlates of children’s cheating is limited, yet exploring these cognitive factors is essential for understanding how children make (dis)honest decisions. This study aimed to test the longitudinal stability in children’s cheating tendency and frequency and to explore the cognitive underpinnings of cheating behavior (theory of mind, inhibitory control, and free will belief). The study involved 100 children aged 3 to 6 years who were initially tested at Time 1, and 89 of these participants were retested at Time 2 approximately 1 year later. Cheating behavior was measured using a die-rolling game over Zoom, and three different cognitive abilities were measured. The results indicated that children’s cheating tendency was stable over a year-long interval, whereas cheating frequency did not show longitudinal stability. Moreover, the study found that free will belief was related to cheating behavior, whereas theory of mind and inhibitory control were not. Specifically, children’s belief in the free will to inhibit their desires, rather than their actual ability to inhibit the desires, was associated with a reduced frequency and likelihood of cheating. The findings can provide insight into the developmental origin of children’s decisions to refrain from cheating.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48391,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Child Psychology","volume":"255 ","pages":"Article 106222"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143621303","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0